Center of Your Attention
by Val-Creative
Summary: Wally rubbed his reddened neck, glancing away. "Do you want to date me, Wally?" /WallyxM'gann-ish. Low T for partying. Oneshot. Request.


−−−xXx−−−

"Megann?"

A high-pitched squeal followed by a softer giggle in Wally's ear.

He shifted his cell phone to his other ear, glancing critically at the suburban-style house from the front yard he zipped to a stop on. A low, thumping bass from the music speaker system inside rattled the upper windows lit with black lights and strobe lamps. Wally's estimate: Ten minutes before the local authorities would show up to take names. "Megann, are you upstairs or downstairs?"

Background rustling. Another female voice blurred out. M'gann squealed again gleefully and a stranger yelled something loudly and unintelligibly into Wally's left ear. He grumbled to himself, flipping his cell face shut. Fine. Invade enemy base and retrieve his missing teammate in T-minus seven seconds. What appeared to be a teenage boy no older than him stumbled out the front door, laughing, and then bent over some potted plants on the terrace to vomit into them with all of his heart's content. Wow, some celebration. Wally decided to not acknowledge him (as well to not acknowledge his most likely _correct_ suspicions on M'gann's current predicament) and stepped inside the house. Without the door blocking it… the music… well, it could have _bled_ Superboy's eardrums.

Wally made a bee-line for the more well-lit section of the party, jostling through a group of nasty grinding couples, and peered around the second living room.

Leaning against an eggshell white wall, pale legs neatly tucked beneath her and swaying a red plastic cup out in front of herself, M'gann rolled her head to the side. She gasped slowly at him. "Waaally!" she shouted over the music, and his hands pushed down on her shoulders when M'gann attempted to make unsteady work of uncoiling herself from the floor. "Guess what, Wally, guessguess… I won the beer pong." M'gann's ridiculously cheerful face dropped as she added solemnly, "…Linda Park told me to go home."

"Not sure who this Linda Park is but she may have a point, Megs," Wally told her, crouching down next to her and she shook her head stubbornly. Oh jeez. "Now, I'm not a certified scientist yet but… if my hypothesis about the amount of alcohol you've consumed at the average game of beer pong and the rate of your human biology is practical…" A pretend, exaggerated chuckle. "I have no choice but to deem you very, very drunk right now." M'gann whined in protest under her breath, pouting, and Wally carefully extracted the cup out of her hand, serious this time as he spoke. "Didn't you get told you couldn't come to this party tonight?" He was almost sure he overheard Artemis about a conversation between M'gann and Martian Manhunter.

Her brown eyes widened big on him. Her hand smacked against his mouth sloppily. "_Shhh_…!" she whispered in a dazed sort of horror. "Don't tell Uncle J'onn."

Wally lowered the sweaty palm against his lips. Even if he could get her back to Mount Justice before anyone noticed, M'gann _reeked_ of booze. Superboy's nostrils would definitely pick it up.

This just kept getting more awesome by the passing moment.

"Megaa~ann, is this your boyfriend?" Two girls in cheerleading uniforms stared down at the pair. The skinnier one with double buns cocked her head smugly, announcing, "He's kinda hot for a dork."

Wally felt himself bristle. With the Hornet symbols on their shirt, they were obviously the squad with M'gann and girls that she went on frequently about being close with. _Right_. Close friends would completely abandon another helpless friend at a rowdy, crowded party. "I'm not staying and neither is she." Wally rose to his feet, hissing, "Why would you let her get trashed like this?"

"We were just helping her feel welcome. I'm not responsible for the _lightweights_."

The other girl with the high ponytail snickered on cue behind one of her French manicures. Wally sent her a glare until the snickers died down.

"So, have you two gotten past second base yet?" Skinny Girl addressed M'gann who blinked owlishly. "Aren't you banging that Conner Kent dude too? You two seemed awfully cozy around the beginning of the year. That's _so_ funny because I didn't peg you as a slu-…" A shady partygoer smelling of weed stumbled by, knocking her own plastic cup and sloshing the beer inside over her clean uniform. She screeched outraged, waving her dripping hands and swearing as her doped up assaulter weaved away.

"You know, I'll be the first to say I don't believe in karma—but THAT was really conveniently appropriate timing," Wally said, grinning as the people around them watching began laughing and clapping. Ponytail Girl sank into the crowd, no longer interested in being associated with Skinny Girl who received the blunt end of the humiliation, storming off and calling out for a "Mal!". A third girl in a Hornets cheerleading outfit, one with black hair and blue eyes, shoved her way around bystanders to kneel down next to M'gann with a worried look.

"Hi, um, get lost," the girl muttered to Wally before clasping M'gann's arm and easing her to a standing position against the wall. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" she scolded a clingy M'gann.

"_Wendiiiieeeee_~"

Wally gently pried M'gann from her, assuring Wendy who eyed him doubtfully, "I'm a friend, I swear. I'm just here to pick her up." He scooped the woozy girl into his arms bridal-style. "…Literally."

"Megann," Wendy asked her, cocking an eyebrow, "Have you ever talked to this guy before tonight? Is he telling the truth?"

The next set of words from M'gann were slurred at best but laced with her earnest nature. "Wally is… my very good friend. He eats my cookies and always is so _niiice_…"

"Do I pass?" he said. Wendy crossed her arms, nodding.

"Word of advice," Wally's expression hardened as he spoke, "everyone who wants to keep their weekends free of grounding needs to clear out before the cops show."

Another nod from her, this time more firmly.

M'gann began shifting her eye color through the entirety of the color spectrum, all the while giggling to herself as he carried her hurriedly out the front door.

Definitely time to clear out.

−−−xXx−−−

"You sure you can stand on your own this time?"

"…Umm-hmm."

Wally set her on her feet to the bedroom carpet and she dipped sideways when he let her go, knees limping under her own weight. He hoisted her moaning quietly into his shoulder. "—Up ya go. I gotcha, Megs. Don't worry." She let out another moan when her head hit her fluffy pink pillow on her bed. Wally sat down next to her, attentive. "Would you sober up faster if you shape-shifted back into a Martian?" (How did Earth alcohol affect a Martian anyway…? Probably not as quickly or as aggressively…)

"Can't," M'gann replied, rubbing her eyelids dizzily. "Need to… wait."

"Until morning?" An agreeable noise from the alien girl. "Call me. I'll…bring you something for your head. You know… on the off-chance it will work."

"Wally…"

She peeked shyly through her pale and faintly freckled fingers. "They said you were my boyfriend… but you didn't tell them the truth."

Wally rubbed his reddened neck, glancing away.

"Do you want to date me, Wally?"

He coughed. "…What about Conner? Don't you want to date him?"

"I tried," she admitted, smiling, and Wally couldn't find a trace of happiness in it when he glanced back at her. "He doesn't like me. I blame him." M'gann's voice trembled a little. "I'm not pretty like he wants or as popular as the other girls I cheerlead with. I'm new to school so they all thought it was cute at first but now I'm just annoying when I ask questions…"

Wally asked, frowning, "Did you read their minds to figure this out?"

A guilty wince.

"Megs, you don't need to take what they say or think seriously. They're just bullies. Their opinions don't matter."

"I thought kids in high school were only happy when they were popular." He chuckled at her disorientation but without cruelty.

"You've been watching too many sitcoms. It's different in reality." Wally shrugged. "I'm not popular at Central High. And I'm happy. Know why?" M'gann's auburn hair pushed against her pillowcase in a head shake. He said, taking her hand into his own and applying a warm, friendly pressure. "Because of you and everyone else on this team, I am. Because you're my _real_ friends."

Her hand squeezed back. Her face lit with an open smile that reddened Wally's neck further and_ his ears_.

"Wendy likes me. Wendy wouldn't have let me drink."

"Well, I like _her_," Wally decided aloud after an '_hmm_'. "She can stand her ground and seems to care a lot about you." He added as an afterthought, wiggling his eyebrows playfully, "But not as much as I like _you_, beautiful." The alien girl giggled at the comical gesture.

"I like you too, Wally," M'gann murmured. Her smile broadened at the corners, dimples popping in her flushed cheeks.

−−−xXx−−−

* * *

><p><em>YJ isn't mine so on and so forth. Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to read! Morgie, I think you wanted more romance out of it... I hope ambiguous is okay too. :3<em>


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